"Can We Make the Villain a White Guy?" • Hacker News Board

Re: "Can We Make the Villain a White Guy?"

#41

Post by throw2827363 » Thu, Jul 09, 2026, 6:54 AM UTC

TimorousBestie wrote: post #14

I have very little sympathy for “You couldn’t write X today” arguments. Here, X is The Wire. There is a spiritual successor to The Wire: 2022’s miniseries We Own This City. Same complicated representation of Baltimore. Same complicated representation of American policing. Good critical reception, but less widely-known than a legendary show that ran for six years and sixty episodes. The substantive difference between…

Exactly, and his examples are really bad because people want complex characters, and a "Kima Greggs" character would absolutely be fine even now.

Re: "Can We Make the Villain a White Guy?"

#42

Post by dzhiurgis » Thu, Jul 09, 2026, 7:27 AM UTC

bbg2401 wrote: post #32

If you're tired of modern American film tropes, there's a world of cinema to explore and enjoy from other cultures. Give Telugu, Tamil, Hindi, Korean, British, Japanese, Hongkonger, Chinese, Taiwanese, Thai, etc films are try. If you're like me, you'll be delighted with the change of pace and focus on more human-centered stories and grounded portrayals of characters and relationships. American cinema feels so uncanny…

I second this, albeit I stick with European languages.

It's not easy to find, but Cannes awards is a good start.

Re: "Can We Make the Villain a White Guy?"

#43

Post by everdrive » Thu, Jul 09, 2026, 12:37 PM UTC

throw2827363 wrote: post #39

everdrive wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I was stuck on a plane years ago and it was the only reason I watched a transformers movie. The back half of the movie had the American villain CEO travel to China, where the pure and correct Chinese CEO discovered the evil corruption of the American CEO, and reluctantly saved the American CEO as he immediately switched from "movie villain" to "cowardly child." I never did look up if I'd watch an international versio…

I seen the reverse too, where the American hero teaches "the natives" how to act. Does that mean Hollywood was pandering to the American audience?

Well obviously yes. I never said that was good either.